Door fastener



Dec. 19, 1922. 1,439,385

S J; STRID, DOOR FASTENER FILED DEC. 2. 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l 1/ lljw K.) Quavz J J'irwi R E i Li 4 an E 23 i JUNE 5I928 .1922

Io. DOOR ASTENER.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 FiLED DEC. 2, I920.

Patented Dec. 19, 1922.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SVEN J. STRID, or CHICAGO. ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 \NILLIAM H. MINER, 0FCRAZY, NEW YDRK DOOR FASTEN ER.

Application filed December 2, 1920. Serial No, 427,813.

To a]! (claim it may concern Be it known that I. SvnN J. S'run), acitizen oi the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and usotulvlmprovement in Door Fasteners, of which the following a full, clear.concise. and exact description. reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings. forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to im n'oven'ients in door operating mechanisms.

In railroad refrigerator cars, the almost universal practice is toemploy spring pressed packing at the joints in order to olitain ashermetic a seal as possible when the doors are in clc'ised position. Onaccount of the spring pressed packing or insulation, considerablepressure is required to force the doors to fully closed position andalso to initiatc the opening movements. Very frequently. moisturecollects on the insulation and then treezes around the edges of thedoors, thereby making it extremely ditlicult to open the doors. it istherefore of prime importance in an operating mechanism for doors ofrefrigerator cars, that the mechauism be adapted to exert great force inboth the h'nal closing movements and also in the heginuing'ol' theopening movements of the doors. l lll'tilitln'lllll. due to limitationsoi maximum overall width of any car em ployedon a railroad. itnecessarily follows that. in order to permit of the maximum width andcarrying capacity of the refrigerator car body proper, the mechanism applied to the outside of the door should ex tend or project outwardlytherefrom a minimum distance to therchy avoid injury when therefrigerator car passes another "an or any stationary ohject along theroad way.

its is well known. refrigerator cars are loaded and unloaded fromplatforms which are generally made .suhstautially Hush with or slightlylower than the car lloor in orderto facilitate the trucking in and outof the load. In most door operating devices for refrigerator carsheretofore cmplovcd, a portion of the mechanism has extended sev eralinches below the hottom edge of the, swinging door to which it isapplied so that. in attempting to suing the door hack and forth over aplatform llusli or even a few inches below the car floor level.difficulty has been experienced frequently necessitating the choppingaway of portions of the platl'orm to provide the necessary clearance forthe mechanism.

One ohject of my invention is to provide aneliicient, durable. andstrong mechanism for hinged or swinging doors, and more especially forrefrigerator car doors where great pressure is required in effecting thefinal closing and initial opening movements of the door.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a mechanism of thecharacter indicated in the preceding paragraph so designed that themechanism may be easily operated either from a loading platform or bythe operator when standing on the ground; to provide a mechanism of thegeneral character herein before indicated so arranged that themechanisni will avoid projecting below the lower edge of the, movabledoor on which the mechanism is mounted for more than approximately aninch whereby the door may be readily swung back and forth over a loadingplatform, which is positioned an inch or two below the level of the carfloon in the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 isa side elevational view of a portion of a refrigerator car showing myimprovements employed in courier tion therewith. Figure 2 is a vertical.seetional view corresponding substantially to the line 2--i2 of Figure 1and showing the re trigcrator door in fully closed position. Figure 3 isa view similar to Figure 2 hut illustrating the position of one of thedoors and the operating mechanism associated therewith corresponding toeither the initial en; agemeut of the gears with the racks to effecttinal closure of the door or the final engagement hetween the gear andthe hccpcr racks at the end oi th torrent open lug movem nt. .-\ud Figuwi is a detail. eleiational view. illustrating a somewhat ditlcrcutemhodimcut cl the invention.

Referring first to the construction illustrated in Figures 1 to 3inclusive, the car wall is indicated at 10, in which is provided theusual. side door opening of generally rectangular torus as indicated at'1 1.. As customary. said door opening, defined by a threshold l2. saledoor p0; l3--l3 and a howled lintei ll. The door shown is of the usuallead seal. the latch 31 may be perforated as indicated at 35 and theflange 34 correspondingly perforated as indicated at 36, saidperforations being in register when the lever G is in closed position.

In Figure 3 l have illustrated by dotted lines 37 a loading platform,the top of which is slightly below the floor level of the car. Takinginto consideration the scale employed on the drawing. the top of saidplatform is approximately one inch below the floor level and it will benoted that the lower segmental gear E will clear said platform in theswingmg movements of the door member B Some railroads prefer that theoperating handle for a door mechanism swing in 'a plane parallel to theouter face of the door to which the mechanism is applied. Figure 4illustrates a modification adapted to comply with this requirement. Asthere shown, the links H and J are the same as or correspond to thelinks H and J shown in the other figures and it will be seen that thesegmental gears, keepers and brackets will re main the same.

Instead of showing a le'ver mounted as shown in Figures 2 and 3,however. the lever G is pivotally mounted on a stud or axis 124 whichextends perpendicular to the face of the door member so that said leverG is itself adapted to swing in a plane parallel to the face of the doormember. The lever is formed with oppositely extended flanges 38 and 39in line with the pivot 124 to which the Links H and J are respectivelypivotally attached as indicated at 127 and l29.

The .door mechanism illustrated in Figure 4 may be locked in closedposition by any suitable means as for instance a latch 131. pivotallyattached to the lever G as indirated at 132, said latch 131 beingadapted to engage over a flange 134 formed on a bracket ll) secured tothe face of the door member. The latch 1:31 and flange 134 may havealined perforations as indicated at v135 to accommodate the usual leadseal.

Due to the fact that the. door member B swings about a vertical axisduring the operation of the door mechanism. the teeth 17 and Zl willpreferably be tapered radially with the pivotal axis of the door memberB as a center but in view of the fact that said taper is so small. Ihave not deemed it necessary to illustrate the saane in detail in thedrawings.

I have herein shown and described what I now consider the preferredmanner of carrying out the invention but the same is merely illustrativeand l contemplate all changes and modifications that come within thescope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. In a refrigerator car having a door opening and a door hinged toswing about a fixed axis at one of its vertical edges. the combinationwith upper and lower toothed keepers secured to the outer face of thecar wall above and below said door opening respecti'vely, the teeth ofthe keepers projecting toward each other: of gears pivotally mounted onsaid door near its edges at the top and bottom thereof. said pivotallymounted gears being located to engage said keepers only when the door isin closed and nearly closed position; and manually operable means forrotating said gears about their iespective pivots while in engagementwith said keepers to thereby eflect. final closing and initial openingmovements of the door.

2. In a refrigerator car having a door opening and a door hinged toswing about a fixed axis at one of its vertical edges, the combinationwith upper and l wer toothed keepers secured to the outer face of thecar wall above and below said door opening respectively. the teeth ofthe keepers project ing toward each other; of gears pivotally' mountedon said door near its edges at the top and bottom thereof, saidpivotally mounted gcars being located to engage said keepers only whenthe door is in closed and nearly closed position; and manually operablemeans for rotating said gears about their respective pivots while inengagement with said keepers to thereby effect final closing and initialopening movements of the door. said means including. a lever pivotallymounted on the door intern'icdiate said gears and a link connectionbetween said lever and each gear.

3. In adoor operating mechanism of the character described. thecombination wim a member having a door opening and a door' hinged toswing about one of its vertical edges; of upper and lower toothedkeepers secured to the outer face of said member above and below thedoor opening. the teeth of said keepers extending toward each other; ofupper and lower brackets secured to said door near its free edge andadjacent the top and bottom thereof; a. gear pivotally mounted in eachof said brackets and adapted to swing about a horizontal extendingparallel to the face of said door. said gears being arranged to engagesaid keepers when the door is in closed and nearly closed position; andmanually operable means for etlecting rotation of said gearssimultaneously about their respective axes.

4. In a refrigerator car having a door opening and a door hinged toswing about one of its vertical edges. the combination with upper andlower toothed keepers secured to the outer face of the car wall abovesaid door opening, the teeth of the keepers extending toward each other;of gears pivotally mounted on said door near ts edges at the top andbot-tom thereof, said pivotally mounted gears being located to engagesaid keepers when the door is in-closed and nearly closed position; andmanually operable means for rotating said gears about their respectivepivots while in engagement with said keepers to thereby effect finalclosing and initial opening movements of the door, each of said gearshaving a radially extendingshoulder adapted to initially engage theouter end of the corresponding keeper to insure proper registration ofthe gears and toothed keepers.

In a refrigerator car having a door opening and a door hinged to swinpabout one of its vertical edges, the combination with upper and lowertoothed keepers sertll't'il to the outer face of the car wall above saiddoor opening, the teeth of the keepers extending toward each other; ofgears pivotally mounted on said door near its edges at the top andbottom thereof, said pivotally mounted gears being located to engagesaid keepers when the door is in closed and nearl Y closedposition;manually operable means or rotafin said gears about their respectivepivots whi e in engagement with said keepers to thereby effect final,

closing and initial opemn movements of the door, said means inclu mg, alever piv- Utfill) mounted on the door intermediate said gears and alink connection between said lever and each gear; and cooperatinglocking devices on said lever and one of said links.

6. In a refrigerator car having a door opening and a door hinged toswing about one of its vertical edges, the combination with upper andlower keepers secured tothe outer face of the car wall above and belowthe door opening; of a pair of brackets 40 secured to said door near itsfree edge, one near the top and one near the bottom thereof, saidbrackets being adapted to aline with said keepers when the door is inclosed and nearly closed position: a member pivot-ally mounted on eachof said brackets about a horizontal axis extending parallel to the faceof said door, said members having meansprojecting beyond thecorresponding upper andlower edges of the door, to 00- operate with saidkeepers; an operating lever plvotally mounted on the door; and meansextending between said lever and said men hers arranged to oscillate thelatter about their respective pivots when said lever is oscillated aboutits ivot.

In Witness that claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my namethis 10th day of Nov., 1920.

SVEN J. STRID.

lVitnesSes:

META Somum'r, UNA C. PERIN.

